It is official! Friends of Rietvlei is now
registered as an Nonprofit Organisation in terms of
the Nonprofit Organisation Act, 1997. After our 2008
AGM where we adopted a new constitution to comply
with the requirements of the Nonprofit Organisation
Act, we submitted our application in early June
2008. Nothing was heard from the Directorate of
Nonprofit Organisations until December 2008 when
they queried some of the details on the application.
We responded to their letter and there was another
long period of silence.

Imagine our pleasant surprise when in mid July we
received an official letter informing us that our
application was successful. Our surprise was even
greater when we saw that the certificate of
registration was dated 23 March 2009, nearly four
months before we were informed!

This basically means that Friends of Rietvlei
qualifies for exemption from income tax. We have not
been liable for income tax in the past, but we could
be liable if we receive income from invested funds
in the future.

The second benefit is that donors can now deduct
donations to Friends of Rietvlei from their taxable
income to the limit of R1000 or 5% of annual taxable
income, whichever is the greater, for both
individuals and companies.

Next Afternoon Walk

It is a long time since we have walked at Rietvlei,
so our next walk will be there on Sunday 6 September
at 15h00. We hope that by then the water levels will
have dropped sufficiently for us to visit both bird
hides. The old bird hide was built by Friends of
Rietvlei many years ago. The new bird hide was built
by the City last year but has only become accessible
with a new boardwalk having been constructed in
April 2009. Meet at the Environmental Education
Centre at 14h45. Wear comfortable boots or shoes
that will probably get muddy!

Queries? 021 5573748

DIEP RIVER ESTUARY MANAGEMENT PLAN

Many of you participated in the workshops and public
meetings during the process of writing the Estuary
Management Plan for the Diep River; the plan was
completed in December last year, and was presented
to the Blaauwberg Subcouncil in February, but after
that it seemed as if nothing much was going to
happen.

However, it has now been confirmed that the C.A.P.E.
Estuaries Programme, together with the City Council,
has appointed Dr Lynn Jackson, who was primarily
responsible for compiling the plan for the Diep
River estuary, as a consultant to take the process
further and to ensure implementation of the plan.

The Rietvlei Management Working Group will be the
forum co-ordinating and monitoring the
implementation of the Estuary Management Plan for
the Diep River. We should have more information
about this in the next newsletter.

DIEP RIVER PROJECT

In our previous newsletter we reported that we had
received an allocation from the City to continue the
work in the Diep River corridor started by Sandiso
Kraai. We placed an advert for the job of Diep River
Conservation Officer, and received 49 applications,
several from the UK, Belgium, France, Kenya and
Zimbabwe. From these a short list was drawn up and
interviews were arranged with several candidates. An
appointment has been made, but the contract start
date is only late October.

More info in the next newsletter!!

By-law for Rietvlei Wetland Reserve

At the July meeting of the Rietvlei Management
Working Group Koos Retief reported that a request
came from the Blaauwberg Subcouncil, and he has
started the process to review the by-law relating to
the use and control of the Rietvlei water area. This
by-law was promulgated on 2 September 1977, and
after 32 years it needs revision and updating to
meet present demands. The process of revision is
quite a lengthy one, including approval from the
City Council to revise the by-law. Once that
approval is obtained, a public participation process
must be initiated so that all role-players and
interested parties can make their inputs and
suggestions.

Friends of Rietvlei strongly supports the revision
of the by-law, and we have promised our full
co-operation with and participation in the process
of revision. We will keep you informed of progress
and, at the appropriate time, invite inputs from our
members.

Expansion and Upgrading of Wastewater Treatment
Infrastructure in the Blaauwberg Area.

Earlier this year, we were involved in the public
participation process following the publication of
the draft Environmental Impact Report on the
upgrading of wastewater treatment infrastructure in
the Blaauwberg Area. The report considered three
main options, these being the upgrading of
Melkbosstrand Wastewater Treatment Works only, the
upgrading of Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Works
only, and sharing the upgrading at both sites.

Upgrading and expanding Potsdam WWTW, either on its
own or with Melkbosstrand, has huge implications for
Rietvlei and the Diep River. The system is already
under severe stress, and increasing the treated
effluent flow into the system will only add to our
problems.

The final EIA report has now been completed and
submitted to the Department of Environmental Affairs
and Development Planning (DEADP), and to our concern
we found that our comments had not been included in
this report. We have subsequently written to the
DEADP directly expressing our concerns and again
raising the issues we raised in our original
comments.

Our main concerns are that the final report makes
two very risky assumptions regarding the disposal of
treated effluent from Potsdam WWTW – the first is
that the existing bypass channel will either cope
with additional discharge, or can be enlarged to
accommodate additional discharge; the second is that
most of the additional effluent will be re-used for
sportsfields and by farmers.

The bypass channel is a matter of great concern, and
the Estuary Management Plan suggests that the
channel may have caused more harm than good in the
longer term. The EMP states categorically that the
channel must not be enlarged or even cleaned out
until further hydrological studies in the Diep River
are undertaken. The issue of re-use of water is also
not a certainty, there is concern that continual use
of treated effluent negatively affects groundwater
resources; we are also concerned about the over-use
of treated effluent by farmers in the Durbanville
area which is in the catchment of the Diep River,
negatively affecting the river and subsequently the
estuary.

We will keep you informed of developments with
regard to this important issue.

Energy Efficiency or Energy Reduction

Energy efficiency is not about reducing heat, light
or power in your house; it is about wasting less
energy. It is also not about doing less to save
energy, but about doing the same or more with less
energy. This basically comes down to using energy
more efficiently with less wastage.

Energy efficiency has been described as a renewable
energy resource that is perfectly cheap, abundant
and immediately available. It can reduce carbon
emissions and reduce our dependence on imported
energy resources. It does not pollute, and it does
not depend on the weather like solar and wind power.

There are several ways of improving energy
efficiency in your home – here is another tip:

One often hears that it is more
energy efficient to leave a
light on in a room than
switching it off every time you
leave the room – the reason
given is that you use more
electricity when switching it
on, than by leaving the light
on. This is not true! In fact
the amount of energy used when
switching on lights is worth
only a few seconds of
electricity use. Most light
bulbs use less than 3 seconds
worth of electricity when
switched on, even the old
fluorescent tubes (those that
splutter on!), use only about 23
seconds worth of electricity
when switched on. With older
types of light bulbs, continuous
switching on and off did result
in shorter lifespan, but with
modern light bulbs this is no
longer the case.

So if you are going to be out of
a room for longer than a few
seconds, you save electricity by
switching the lights off when
you leave.

In our next newsletter we will have another energy
efficiency tip for you.

Thanks go to Chevron Refinery for
sponsoring envelopes for the posted newsletter.